Deborah's mushrooms

So in Research and Development's family we get together for everyone's bday. We either go to the place of the birthday person's choosing OR someone prepares lots of goodies that the birthday person loves.

Usually part of my goodies for my birthday are Deborah's mushrooms. I do truly love them!

So for Deborah's birthday she had Deborah's mushrooms.

These are delightful apps. They are super easy and extra delicious. These are so delicious that they converted a self proclaimed mushroom hater. In fact, he asked for extra.

Here's what you need:

1 lb sausage

1 package of cream cheese

1 tbsp minced onions

1 tsp garlic powder

1 package of mushrooms, washed and capped

Preheat to broil

Wash and cap your mushrooms how you see fit. I do not rinse mine, some do. It's all about preference.

Start with delicious sausage. This was brought in from Spring Hope, NC. It is only the absolute best sausage ever. So very tasty. I miss it...ho hum

Brown your beautiful sausage and then drain.

Combine your cream cheese, minced onions and garlic powder. Then add your sausage and mix well.

This is so good that Research and Development threatened to eat it with a spoon.

But I suggest you wait until the end.

Spoon the mixture into your mushroom caps and broil until browned. That takes about 20 minutes or so.

Eat, eat them ALL!

I lucked out and got a beautiful batch of mushrooms that were huge. Not the ideal size for apps, but at home with the hubs they were perfectly fine. The flavor of the delightful sausage is so important so pick a sausage that you love. So creamy and delicious. It's one of my favorites!



What's not to love?

Spinach Dip Cups. You've got your spinach dip, you've got your bread...all in one bite. What's not to love?

I L.O.V.E. spinach, I also love spinach dip. It's creamy, the spinach gives it such a great flavor. mmm, mmm good!

So here's what you need:

French Bread Dough

Frozen bag of spinach

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 oz. of Neufchatel  cheese (cream cheese with less fat)

1/2 sour cream

2 tbsp grated parmesean cheese

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/3 cup shredded cheese

Preheat to 350 degrees

I would love to say that I made the dough for this recipe, but I cannot. This dough did really great. I would definately use this again.

My muffin pan has 12 muffin spaces so I had to make 12 cups

I tried to roll it out with the rolling pin, that doesn't work. I think it's the heat from your hands that makes the dough pliable. Just work the dough until it's big enough to  fit in the bottom of the cup.

It doesn't have to come up over the sides too much because the dough will rise a bit during the cooking.

Sautee up your spinach with the garlic and a little evoo.

*One day I'll learn about the white bowl*

Here we have the sour cream, Neufchatel, Parmesean and spices. Make sure your Neufchatel or cream cheese is soft enough to mix well. Add your spinach to the mixture

Spoon mixture into your bread cups.

Add the shredded cheese of your choice.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.

These are sooooooo good! The creaminess is so delicious. The bread is just the right consistency. I was so pleased with these Spinach Dip Cups. It takes almost no time to make, and it comes out so home-made good!

I would love to try these as mini cups. Little one bite spinach cups would be fantastic. I also wouldn't mind trying this with half the spinach and add chopped artichoke hearts!